In my first sparring class we had about 20 people show up, and the instructor had us spar for 90 seconds, then change partners, spar for 90 seconds, change partners, ect...Every now and then he would have us do 20 pushups or jumping jacks between partners, then back at it.We were sucking wind.It was good because switching partners made me have to re-think my strategy on the fly. Even though 90 seconds is a short amount of time, 90 seconds takes a long time when you're sparring.I did pretty well, and didn't feel intimidated. The higher ranking students that I sparred with pointed out some of my mistakes and took the time to give me pointers, so even though I got clipped a few times, it was a good experience for me.

My first sparring session goes way back to my first week in TKD. I was lucky enough to be matched up with a yellow stripe who thought he was Chuck Norris. He kept telling me he didn't want to hurt me while my pathetic front kicks were pushing him out of the area."Didn't want to hurt me?" He would have to get his kicks above my knees to do any damage. It was at this point that I learned an important lesson. You're probably not as good as you think you are. Keeping it real is key in progressing in the arts. That yellow stripe was the first in a long line of fellow students who came and went in my martial journey. If we view our training as "I'm gonna be a bad dude" we probably will lose interest. That yellow stripe didn't have the proper attitude to stay the course in his training.

If we view our training as "I'm gonna be a bad dude" we probably will lose interest.

I agree.That attitude will only get you so far in traditional martial arts, and if someone is training in a traditional program with that goal in mind, then they're training for the wrong reasons.It seems that the younger students exhibit that attitude more often than the older ones, and they don't stick around very long for the most part.